Tax resolution blog adds new feature

by Gina Anton, Director of Corporate Communications

Happy 2011! In the spirit of the New Year and a fresh new start, I would like to introduce a new feature on our tax resolution blog – Honest Dialogue: Stories from our Tax Consultants. Honest Dialogue will feature information from our consultants on what the most common tax issues they see are, the most frequently asked questions they get and stories from the field – situations they’ve seen where we have been able to help our clients with their back tax problem.

Our tax consultants are the second person to speak with our clients (second only to speaking with one of our appointment setters for their appointment), before the actual work begins on our clients’ cases. Often, our consultants are counselor, confidante and friend to their clients who have been burdened with their back tax liability for quite some time. Our consultants are very familiar with the tax issues our clients deal with and are familiar with the fear the client faces of the IRS and its tactics.

In the first installment later this week, one of our consultants, Antonia Martin, will tell us what the top five questions about tax resolution she gets from her clients are and how she answers those questions.

If you have a tax question you would like JK Harris to answer, please submit it to us here or via email at jkharris@jkharris.com.

Happy New Year!

JK Harris employees give the gift of life during crucial summer months

Last Wednesday, JK Harris and Company held a blood drive for the American Red Cross and I am proud to say we came through when they needed us. You see, one of our employees, a nursing student, asked if we could do a company wide blood drive. So, we contacted the Red Cross a few months ago. They asked us if we could host a blood drive during the critical summer months when donations are typically down. Our communications department sent out an interest survey and we received great feedback from our employees, many of them saying they had hoped we would do this as a company.

I am proud to say, we had 69 employees come out to donate in a six-hour time frame, many more than the Red Cross was expecting of us on our first blood drive. While not all of these employees ended up being eligible to donate – we had a total of 44 donors -, and of these, 23 employees were first-time blood donors. This was a very impressive number and I was excited to see JK Harris employees once again turning out in support of an important cause.

It never ceases to amaze me that whenever the call is made for people in need, our employees always answer it in resounding fashion!

Perception is not always reality

Very recently we received an email from someone who saw one of our commercials on TV and wanted to know how we could be in the business we are in, representing people who are “cheating the system.”

This is a question which has been asked of us in the past, and I’m sure is on the minds of many people when they see our advertisements. So, I saw it fitting to post this concerned taxpayer’s email on this blog, along with our response to him, hoping this will set the minds of everyone who reads it at peace with JK Harris and the tax representation industry as a whole.

Email from taxpayer:

Good Morning,

I recently saw your company’s advertisement on television and a question came to mind.

Why should anyone, myself included, who have responsibly paid their taxes keep paying them if there are companies like yours that can get them off or reduce their tax liability?

From first impression, it seems your company is in business to help those who are cheating the system at the expense of the responsible taxpayers. Those who you help are still getting the benefits of the government services (military, highways, programs, etc.) but are not paying their share.

I’m sure there is a reason you can do this legally, but I don’t think it’s right we have to cover for those who are getting over on the system. Everyone should pay their share!

JK Harris response to taxpayer:

Thank you for taking the time to contact us with your concerns.
While I can understand your concerns, the first thing I would like to clarify is that JK Harris is not in the business of helping taxpayers who are trying to “cheat” the system. What we do is help taxpayers who are in a financial situation that is not conducive to them being able to pay the taxes they know they owe the IRS.

In fact, the programs we use to help these taxpayers are programs that are designed, governed and used by the IRS. For instance, the Offer in Compromise (OIC) is an agreement between the IRS and the taxpayer, and what it does is settle the taxpayer’s tax liability for less than the full amount that is owed. The IRS will not accept the OIC if it believes the taxpayer can pay the liability in full, whether in one lump sum or through a payment plan. The IRS only accepts the OIC if it is in the best interest of both the IRS and the taxpayer.

When considering an OIC, the IRS takes into consideration the taxpayer’s income; monthly expenses (rent, mortgage, utility payments, court-ordered payments, medical payments, etc.); any money in checking and savings accounts, retirement accounts, money market accounts and insurance policies; and any equity in vehicles and/or real estate. Based on these figures, the IRS then determines if the taxpayer has the capability of paying the tax liability. And if the OIC is accepted, the taxpayer must follow strict compliance guidelines, also set up by the IRS.

The important thing to remember is that the IRS set up these programs and regulates these programs and has the final say in who qualifies for these programs. Another important factor is that most of our customers come to us when something drastic has happened in their lives and an event has changed their financial circumstances. People who are getting divorced, had a death in the family, suffered a disability, lost a job, lost a large contract, or their business went, under are just a few of the reasons these folks need help.
The OIC program is not about what a taxpayer owes; it’s about what they can afford to pay based on their income, expenses, liabilities and future income earning potential.

Our company mission is to advocate for our clients and negotiate with the IRS based on the programs available to every taxpayer in America. We are not in business to help anyone get away with not having to meet their tax obligations.

Lastly, many of the folks we help are in real trouble. If they meet the requirements for the IRS programs, we help them and it relieves a lot of their trouble, and statistics show that the government ends up collecting a lot more money through this process than without it. And if an OIC is accepted, the taxpayer must be compliant (file taxes and pay any owed) for five straight years, or all the penalties, interest and principal return.

I hope I have cleared up some of the issues you have with the tax representation business.

Response from taxpayer:
Thank you very much for the in-depth explanation of your services and the circumstances which someone would need them. I understand them better and will now be able to help explain it to others who have the same concerns and questions.

Have a Happy Holiday & New Year!

We were hoping, after reading our response to him, the taxpayer would better understand our business and why we do what we do. I am happy to say I believe we accomplished our mission.

Setting the Record Straight on the BBB

I want to discuss JK Harris’ poor rating with the Better Business Bureau. Currently our rating is “unsatisfactory”; however, we feel you deserve an explanation about how the BBB operates and how some BBB chapters are more conscientious than others

The Columbia, SC BBB indicates that we have an unsatisfactory rating because we have not responded to “a complaint” – despite the overwhelming evidence we provide them that (a) almost all complaints are resolved and (b) total complaints are small in comparison to our total number of clients. We learned, to our chagrin, some chapters of the BBB are not objective when evaluating businesses and that two businesses with identical complaint records can end up with entirely different ratings.

This unbalanced approach to rating our business by the BBB is obviously out of touch with proper, unbiased reporting. Of course, we appreciate that the BBB recognizes that we have worked with our customers to resolve any differences. But this negative branding of our company with a rating of unsatisfactory does not tell the whole story. The fact is, if we had not worked with our customers to resolve their issues, the rating could not have been lower by BBB standards due to their rating system. In the past three years, JK Harris has contracted over 75,000 clients. A reasonable person would assume that any company that contracts that number of clients and resolves all but a small percentage of some 800 customer issues would be applauded as a company that takes pride in their customer service and responsiveness. However, JK Harris is denigrated as a company that is unconcerned about its customers despite the fact that — by the BBB’s own admission, we do resolve almost all of the issues the BBB brings to our attention.

Lastly, if you are considering our company to help you with your tax problems, please consider the many, many satisfied customers we have helped navigate through their financial problems. I invite you to visit our website, http://www.JKHarris.com, and review our customer testimonials. There, you will see the honest-to-goodness reality of how we help people from all across the country. We help solve IRS problems.

John Harris
www.jkharris.com

Let’s get things started

As I stated in my welcome, we are good at what we do, but we can’t perform miracles. Sometimes people are upset with us when their expectations are not in line with what we are allowed given IRS guidelines. That’s unfortunate because we help people all over the country with their tax problems every day. We have been able to grow into the country’s largest tax resolution firm because of our people. They are dedicated, well-trained and experienced.

One example of the help we provide on a daily basis is a case that was sent to me last week. We had a businessman from Minnesota who contracted with us after piling up a bill of more than $227,000. That’s right, almost a quarter of a million bucks! Because the customer gave us the information we needed in a timely fashion and our staff did what they are trained to do, we were able to submit his case to the IRS promptly. And the result…He settled with the IRS after his Offer in Compromise was accepted for $5,000. That’s a big savings and just a sample of what we can do for our customers. I’ll be talking with you soon and I hope to hear from you!

Welcome to TaxResolution Blog

Chances are you found this blog through a search engine. Or maybe through our company’s main site. Thanks for joining.

I’m here to talk with you about tax problems and other debts that are causing you problems. We are the largest in the business of helping people with IRS problems. That means we have lots of experts who do nothing everyday except work with people like you and advocate on your behalf to get you out of trouble. We’re good at it. But we can’t perform miracles. Sometimes, and for some people, it seems like we do. But others are disappointed because they expected a miracle and the reality is that some debts have to be dealt with.

I’ll be talking here about the kinds of problems people run into with the IRS. The best solution is always prevention. But we’ll also talk about when there is trouble, what can be done and what you can reasonably expect to happen.

Above all, let’s talk together. Please comment on this blog and the topics I present. But first read the guidelines. We’ll be reviewing comments to make sure they are appropriate and of interest to the blog viewers who come to this for ideas, suggestions and help.